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Sharing a Love for the Outdoors: Debi and Scott Flora

Scott and his wife, Debi, are the
parents of two NOLS graduates, one of them an employee at NOLS’ headquarters in
Lander, Wyo. The Floras were introduced to NOLS through a backpacking buddy and
NOLS instructor when their son and daughter were still too young to really
consider the program.

Scott and Debi Flora on a night hike up Mount Cutler in Colorado Springs, Colo.

No
strangers to the backcountry themselves, the couple met on a cross-country
skiing trip Scott was leading through Colorado State University- Pueblo
(formerly the University of Southern Colorado). As their family grew and the
kids got old enough to walk (most of the time) they began taking family camping
and backpacking trips into the Rockies and beyond.

Years later, their son, Bradley,
was considering advancing his career in the ski industry. Debi and Scott
remembered the Wilderness Medicine Institute, founded near their home in
Colorado. It seemed like a good fit, so Bradley journeyed to Lander to become a
wilderness EMT.

Bradley exploring in the Colorado Rockies.

Scott
and Debi witnessed a growth in their son’s confidence after his course, along with
an increased awareness of the safety ramifications of adventure activities.
This boost was in part to the clinical time the students spent in the ER of a
nearby hospital.

“He was being treated as a professional, treated with
a level of responsibility,” Debi explained, “I think that had a huge impact on
how he saw himself.”

Bradley
also benefited greatly from the scenarios that allowed him to work as a member
of a team. Overall, his NOLS
training was such a positive experience that when his sister, Larkin, was
looking for a gap year program, Bradley suggested that she look into the
semester courses.

Larkin’s
Spring Semester in Baja brought on many challenges, including being one of two
female students on the course. She worked on holding her own with men, and
Scott believes that she came out of it able to relate to men in a new and
different way.

Larkin milks a goat during the backpacking section of her Semester in Baja.

Larkin
and her coursemates faced other challenges, including multi-day windstorms,
desert heat, lack of water, and long days of paddling. They also experienced
the small joys of an unexpected citrus orchard, and a pod of dolphins playing
near their boats, along with the cultural opportunities traveling in another
country provided. For Larkin, these moments made the discomfort worth it.

This controlled adversity can be
built into a course, such as an extra hard day of hiking, or it can come from
external effects such as the weather. Debi and Scott feel that this adversity
helped make Larkin’s transition to college the next fall smoother.

“Parents have concerns about their
children going off to college, and having an intermediate step for kids is a
good thing,” Scott stated, “When you think of a college student going through a
course, and then they get to college and they realize that ‘Oh, this isn’t so
bad!’ They are better prepared for adversity and challenges in life because
they’ve experienced adversity and challenges at NOLS.”

The Flora Family at their home in Colorado.

The Floras believe that NOLS, and
all extended wilderness travel, has a transformative affect on young people
especially. For this reason they are strong proponents of wilderness education.

“NOLS graduates bring their personal
growth back into the world,” Debi insisted. “How they interact in their job,
with their family, their friends, their community is all effected by how they
feel coming out of NOLS.”

Because
of this, Debi and Scott have decided to donate annually
to NOLS. They believe that outdoor education will contribute to making the
world a better place and want to see the school continue well into the future.